Francis also played for the Orlando Magic and New York Knicks, finishing his career with the Beijing Ducks of the Chinese Basketball Association.

Francis made an instant impact as Maryland's starting shooting guard, scoring 17 points in the season opener against Western Carolina.

Francis and the Terps gained national attention with impressive showings in the Puerto Rico Shootout and a 62–60 win over #5 Stanford in the BB&T Classic.

Under Francis's leadership, Maryland finished with a school record 28 wins and only 6 losses and were ranked #5 in the final Associated Press poll.

[9] He publicly announced that he did not want to play for the Grizzlies, citing the distance from his Maryland home, taxes, endorsements, and God's will.

[10] Francis got his wish, being traded before the 1999–2000 season began to the Houston Rockets in a three-team, 11-player deal that brought Michael Dickerson, Othella Harrington, Antoine Carr and Brent Price, plus first- and second-round picks to the Grizzlies.

[15] As a result, the Rockets posted a dismal 28–54 record, landing them into the lottery, where they selected 7'6" Chinese center Yao Ming with the first pick in the 2002 NBA Draft.

Francis scored a career-high 44 points in a nationally televised home win against the Los Angeles Lakers on January 17, 2003.

Despite his averaging 19.2 ppg, 8.4 rpg, and 7.6 apg, the Rockets lost to the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers in five games.

[16][17][18] On December 10, 2004, Francis scored 36 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and recorded 8 assists in a 113–109 win over the Golden State Warriors.

[22] Still, rumors persisted that Francis would be traded to the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets or even back to his former team the Houston Rockets.

[21] Prior to the trade, the Nuggets reportedly offered both Watson and Kenyon Martin for Francis, but the deal never took place.

[25] On 2007 draft night, June 28, the Knicks traded Francis and Channing Frye to the Portland Trail Blazers for Zach Randolph, Dan Dickau, and Fred Jones;[26] Portland then bought out the remaining two years of Francis's contract for a reported $30 million, making him an unrestricted free agent.

He averaged 5.5 points and 3 assists in ten games before undergoing season-ending surgery stemming from an earlier left quadriceps tendon injury.

He averaged 0.5 points and 0.7 rebounds over four games, playing 14 minutes, before leaving the team in late December of the same year to return to the United States.

[32] On September 27, 2001, a tornado struck the University of Maryland, College Park campus, killing two students and displacing 700 more from their dormitory.

Francis, who was on campus at the time, arranged to sponsor a dinner for the displaced students before he flew back to Houston for his third season with the Rockets.

"[33] On February 17, 2002, Francis's #23 jersey was honored by Maryland in a ceremony preceding the game against the #1 ranked Duke Blue Devils.

[36] Francis has ventured into several entrepreneurial projects, including a construction company, boxing promotions, a barbershop and clothing line (We R One), as well as a hip-hop record label, Mazerati Music.

[38] In December 2016, he turned himself into Manatee County, Florida police who issued a warrant for his arrest on burglary charges following an incident in which he allegedly broke into a woman's car.